Free Drum Lessons
Drops Of Jupiter - Bridge Lesson
This drum lesson explores the bridge groove and drum fills from "Drops of Jupiter" by Train. This is a great selection of music because of the broken triplet metric modulation - gives the groove its groove.
Rolling Through the Triplets with Tim McIntyre
The second installment of our exclusive Musicians Institute Hollywood drum lesson series, Tim McIntyre lets the rolls fly in this great application of the five-stroke roll based in triplets.
Balancing the Hands - Swing
This is an exercise designed to balance your hands through playing the jazz swing rhythm with either hand. In the first bar, the right hand leads, playing the rhythm on the floor tom. In the second bar, the left hand leads, playing the high tom. The spaces are filled with ghosted snare drum notes. These ghost strokes help you to hear and feel the underlying triplets in the swing feel.
Bag o' Short Fills
This lesson focuses on a few short fill ideas. Short fills generally take up a half measure or less, hence the name.
Short Triplet Fills You Can Play Today!
Learn a handful of easy-to-grasp triplet fills that sound great. In this lesson, we explore re-orchestrating these patterns around the kit.
Triplet Short Fills
Because triplets are phrased in threes (as the name "triplet" implies), playing them in groups of two creates a syncopated feel. In the examples below, the toms change every two strokes (i.e. groups of two) within the triplets.
Sixteenth-Note Triplet Fills and Exercises
These exercises serve as a great workout for improving coordination, dexterity, and timing around the kit. They also make unique-sounding, punchy drum fills to use within your own playing.
Triplet It and Give It a Kick
In this lesson, Nate Brown explores a triplet groove pattern with a bass drum diddle. Move it around the kit to create a handful of great grooves. Check Out Nate's Book
R U Mine Grooves - Arctic Monkeys
In this week's Monday lesson, Nate Brown teaches the main groove and a fill from R U Mine by Arctic Monkeys.
Sixteenth-Note Triplet Drum Fill Phrased In Two
This week's lesson examines the technique of phrasing sixteenth-note triplets in groups of two around the toms to create explosive fills.
How To Play Best of You - Foo Fighters - Outro
This is a high-energy song, as many Foo Fighter's songs are. The outro repeats a refrain on beats 1 and 2 throughout the entire outro and throws quick, syncopated fills on beats 3 and 4.
Green Day's Rock Shuffle from Holiday
This week, we take a look at Tré Cool's rock shuffle from Holiday. The groove rides the low tom lead into the final chorus, while the shuffle in the chorus is completed with the bass drum and snare. Learning this piece is a great start to ramping up your rock shuffle skills.
